Cascades Capital Asset Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Cascades Capital Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 23.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,751 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 515 shares during the quarter. Cascades Capital Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $459,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Oracle during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 89.7% in the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 184 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Oracle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, TFC Financial Management Inc. raised its holdings in Oracle by 129.0% in the fourth quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 213 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Oracle from $195.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on Oracle from $194.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $178.65.

Oracle Stock Performance

Oracle stock opened at $128.17 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $112.78 and a 12 month high of $198.31. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $160.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $169.33. The company has a market cap of $358.48 billion, a PE ratio of 31.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.22.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $14.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. Oracle’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.41 EPS. Research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This is a positive change from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total transaction of $64,050,487.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,565,931.52. The trade was a 23.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.81, for a total transaction of $291,620.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 34,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,049,400.30. This represents a 5.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,448,328 shares of company stock worth $453,791,001. 42.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Oracle Profile

Oracle Corporation offers products and services that address enterprise information technology environments worldwide. Its Oracle cloud software as a service offering include various cloud software applications, including Oracle Fusion cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP), Oracle Fusion cloud enterprise performance management, Oracle Fusion cloud supply chain and manufacturing management, Oracle Fusion cloud human capital management, Oracle Cerner healthcare, Oracle Advertising, and NetSuite applications suite, as well as Oracle Fusion Sales, Service, and Marketing.